


With Every Sunrise

by fanfoolishness (LoonyLupin), LoonyLupin



Series: Starshine Over Beach City: Moments from Steven Universe [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Past Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22661806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/fanfoolishness, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/LoonyLupin
Summary: Pearl shares a fear with Rose; Rose tries to help her through it.
Relationships: Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)
Series: Starshine Over Beach City: Moments from Steven Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1523993
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	With Every Sunrise

Ivy stretched overhead, a vast arch of green vines and leaves swaying gently in the breeze. With every step Rose took toward their destination the ivy seemed to sigh and stretch towards her, each tendril twining closer, closer, striving to be near her. Beside her Pearl spoke.

“It’s happy to see you again,” she murmured. “It still remembers you, even after such a long time.”

“It’s only been a thousand years,” said Rose. She reached out and ran a hand across the wall of ivy, and a frisson traveled through the patch of plant nearest her, a spasm that might have been joy. “Still, though, can you believe it? The Earth is so lush. This patch of ivy doesn’t need me at all anymore, since the Earth gives it everything it needs. Sunlight, rain, rich soil –”

“And something on which to grow,” said Pearl. She reached into the thicket of ivy and a Gem door panel lit up beneath the plants. A breath from Rose and the ivy spread apart, revealing the opening door into the buried ship, one of the few from the war to survive somewhat intact. Its flight capabilities were long gone, but its incoming communication link still functioned, or had the last time they had visited.

“Well, the Earth didn’t exactly provide this,” said Rose. She and Pearl ducked inside, taking a moment to scan the interior of the ship for any other Gems. Just as it had been a thousand years ago, the ship was silent and empty.

Gem tech didn’t break down as easily as the things that humans built, their wheeled carts, their ships, their pyramids. Those began to fade with mere generations of human lives. Yet this ruined ship still showed signs of decay, power sources spitting out meager sparks from frayed wires, monitors warped from centuries of rain and heat and humidity, the internal structures coated with dust from tiny creatures that had found their way in through a breach in the hull. 

No Gems, corrupted or otherwise.

Pearl tried to activate the terminal, but it sputtered, the small image it had attempted to form flickering into nothingness. “Nothing again,” said Pearl. She looked both relieved and sad, delicate pale fingers tracing old commands into the dead terminal as if she thought it might still work. She caught sight of her fingers and quickly pulled them back as if she’d received a shock. 

“This is good,” Rose said, and it was; no eyes of Blue or White or Yellow peering in, no coming scout ships. But she saw Pearl’s face, faintly flushed with soft teal, her hands twisting together above the silent screen, and she was uncertain.

“Are you all right, Pearl?”

“I – yes,” said Pearl, nodding without meeting Rose’s eyes. “Of course, I’m relieved that this old ship hasn’t been receiving messages.”

“Pearl.” The name hung in the air between them, heavier than the dust that was thick and soft beneath Rose’s feet. 

Pearl turned to her, then, flinging her arms around her. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice trembling. She always tried, so hard, to be brave. Rose sighed and held her, held her tightly.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” said Rose. _You didn’t start this war._

_“_ It’s only – I know that we can never go home,” said Pearl in a rush. “And I know – I know what we suffered there. What you suffered. But there’s still a part of me that misses that world _…”_ She sniffed, taking one of Rose’s hands in hers. She gently laid a kiss on the back of Rose’s hand, and Rose closed her eyes, smiling, aching.

“I’m sorry I took that away from you,” said Rose throatily, and she meant it, as powerfully as she could mean anything.

“Don’t ever apologize! Not to me,” said Pearl fiercely. “Besides, I know it’s silly,” she went on. “I was just a _Pearl._ I wasn’t even my own Gem then. How could I miss it? And yet I do, somehow.” She was quiet. “Do you know what I’m afraid of?”

Rose reached up, tilting Pearl’s chin up with a curled finger until Pearl gazed into her eyes. “You can tell me.”

Tears shone in Pearl’s eyes. “What if we discover _everything_ on Earth? What if… what if in a thousand years, ten thousand, fifty – what if we find everything? All the corrupted Gems? All the wonders of the Earth? What if one day we turn to each other, and we realize there is nothing _new_ left? It’s – it’s such a _small_ planet, Rose.”

Rose brushed away the tears now streaking Pearl’s cheek with the pad of her thumb. _Delicate, delicate_. “I’m frightened too,” she said softly. “But not of Earth. The ivy’s still here, but I didn’t ask it to keep growing. Earth did, because things grow here. They change. They fade. And the world looks a little different with every sunrise.” She bent down, pressing a kiss to Pearl’s mouth, lingering.

“A little different every day,” Pearl breathed against her mouth. “Perhaps I could live with that.”


End file.
